The complete guide to an automated onboarding process

October 24, 2025

 

Alex Oliver

10 min read

A successful hire should spark excitement about your new team member, not dread about the paperwork ahead. If you’re dreading the process, your manual employee onboarding process likely feels chaotic, inefficient, and error-prone.

Automated onboarding processes change everything. What once took weeks now takes days or minutes. New hires focus on learning their roles instead of wrestling with forms. You spend time developing talent, not chasing missing documents.

Isagenix, a health and wellness company, cut onboarding time by 95% through automation with iCIMS. This guide shows you how to achieve similar results and focus on what matters most: growing your new team members.

Is automating the onboarding process important?

Absolutely. Think of it this way: Manual onboarding is like using two hairpins to pick a lock, while automated onboarding is using a key. Both will open a door, but one is far simpler and faster.

Automated onboarding uses software to execute tasks without manual intervention. For example, when someone accepts a job offer, the system immediately sends welcome emails, assigns training, and notifies relevant teams — all without your direct involvement. It also enables smart onboarding that adapts to different needs based on role, department, or location. Large companies can maintain multiple custom workflows for various situations.

Compare this to manual processes that waste paper and force human resources (HR) teams into administrative work instead of strategic planning. Automation makes onboarding more efficient, saving time and costs while improving the new hire experience and leading to better-prepared employees who stay longer.

Learn more about the advantages of an effective onboarding process with our discussion of the reasons the importance of onboarding will only increase.

Key pieces of an onboarding process that can be automated

An HR automation onboarding system uses triggers and actions to accomplish multiple tasks automatically. For example, when a new hire acknowledges your technology policy (the “trigger”), the system automatically prompts IT to prepare their laptop (the “action”).

Here are the main automation categories:

Pro tip: To get the most out of your onboarding system, it needs to integrate, or “talk,” with the other HR platforms, such as your applicant tracking system (ATS), human resources information system (HRIS), payroll, and LMS. The more connections you maintain, the more streamlined your onboarding process automation becomes.

Essential tools and technologies to automate your organization’s onboarding process

Onboarding automation requires several integrated tools, including:

• Workflow automation tools extend onboarding into broader business processes, like updating payroll systems or scheduling role-specific meetings
• Document management systems handle employee records through e-signatures, audit trails, and access controls
• Communication and collaboration platforms facilitate task flow across teams with project management, chat, video conferencing, and employee experience tools
• Learning management systems automate training creation, enrollment, and delivery while monitoring progress
• External vendor platforms manage third-party needs like I-9 verification through E-Verify, benefits enrollment, and background checks

But, most comprehensive automated onboarding software includes native versions of these tools or partnerships with third-party systems. It also provides end-to-end monitoring for legal compliance and detailed reports on costs, efficiency, and time to productivity.

iCIMS’ onboarding software, for example, integrates with its ATS to carry recruitment information into employment records. This creates a unified experience for new hires as they interact with the same platform throughout the hiring process.

Learn more about iCIMS’ recruiting automation capabilities in our guide to recruitment process automation.

Step-by-step implementation guide

To automate the onboarding process, expect some upfront work to begin. It takes time to assess, select, configure, and implement each tool. But once complete, you can onboard multiple new hires simultaneously.

Meet ABC Corp

For this guide, we’ll follow fictional ABC Corp:

• Company details: E-commerce company with 2,500+ employees
• Current goals: Hiring employees abroad as it expands globally
• Pain points: One-size-fits-all workflows, paper-heavy processes, and people managers handling too many onboarding tasks

Step 1: Assessment and planning

First, evaluate your current processes to identify pain points, and set automation goals and success metrics. For example, ABC Corp wants to:

• Customize workflows by department, level, and location
• Delegate tasks more equitably, so managers can focus on critical responsibilities

ABC Corp will measure success through onboarding efficiency and satisfaction scores.

Pro tip: Focus on one to two success metrics initially. This encourages continuous improvement without overwhelming your team.

Step 2: Technology selection

Determine what tools address your pain points based on company size, budget, and current tech stack. Then, create an evaluation checklist and demo each product to ensure it will integrate with your existing technology.

ABC Corp needs software that supports large companies with multiple workflow options.

Pro tip: Opt for platforms with low- or no-code development capabilities. Platforms with natural language tools like “if/then” statements make workflow creation accessible beyond IT teams.

Step 3: Process design and mapping

Next, map your entire onboarding journey for each new hire type. All onboarding stakeholders should assist during this process, including people managers, recruiters, executives, and specialists from HR, L&D, and IT.

Together, decide on essential steps, create workflow diagrams, identify task dependencies, and designate owners.

For example, here’s part of ABC Corp’s workflow showing IT tasks based on the new hire’s remote, hybrid, or onsite status:

ABC Corp’s onboarding workflow diagram for remote or onsite employees.

Step 4: System configuration

You’ll next need to configure your onboarding tools to your specific needs. You’ll need to involve your IT department during this process. IT will:

• Handle APIs and webhooks to integrate your new onboarding system into your wider tech stack
• Customize access controls and permissions to ensure only the right people are engaging with the correct data
• Monitor and safeguard against any security vulnerabilities

Step 5: Content creation and templates

During this phase, you’ll develop the materials you need to make your onboarding workflow automation a success, such as:

• Email templates
• Task reminders
• Document templates
• Forms and contracts
• Training courses
• Knowledge assessments
• Satisfaction surveys

You’ll likely need to collaborate with direct managers, HR, recruitment, IT, and executive teams to develop this content.

For ABC Corp, it will convert its physical resources to a digital format by importing forms and creating placeholder fields to auto-populate important information, such as the new hire’s name and title.

Step 6: Testing and pilot programs

Test your setup with small pilot groups before full rollout. The pilot groups will identify bugs and suggest workflow improvements. Take their feedback seriously, tweaking as necessary or slating changes for future iterations.

Did you know? Some onboarding tools offer sandbox environments that allow you to test workflows safely without affecting your actual personnel data. Check if you have a sandbox to test new flows before your pilot program.

Step 7: Training and change management

Your automated process only works if staff know how to use it.

First, train HR teams and managers on the new system. Provide training sessions and plenty of opportunities for questions and to test their knowledge.

Then, notify remaining employees. For most existing employees, the new onboarding workflow won’t impact them. ABC Corp will ask all employees to reread and acknowledge employee handbooks in the new system for consistency.

Step 8: Launch and monitoring

The last step of onboarding automation implementation is launch and monitoring. Depending on available resources, you may opt for an immediate, parallel, or phased rollout.

As a large company, ABC Corp adopts a gradual conversion, allowing everyone to adjust while spotting and fixing issues quickly.

Don’t forget to track the effectiveness of your automated onboarding process using the metrics you chose at the beginning. Are you seeing expected results? If not, identify bottlenecks, iterate, and repeat.

Best practices for automated onboarding success

Try the onboarding automation best practices below to make the most of your new digital process.

• Personalize onboarding: Use information about role, department, location, or interests to automate individual experiences while maintaining consistency.
• Monitor compliance: Plan regular audits to ensure secure data collection and storage, along with frequent compliance reports detailing documentation completion and training history.
• Create scalable workflows: Use centralized templates, conditional logic, and governance processes; this way, adjusting onboarding as you grow means adding modules and tweaking templates, not starting over.
• Implement feedback loops: Invite regular stakeholder feedback through surveys, monitor success metrics, and schedule annual process reviews for continuous optimization.
• Keep the human touch: Include opportunities for human interaction, such as in-person orientations, manager check-ins, or instructor-led training courses, to facilitate networking and cultural integration.

When you get the onboarding experience right, you do more than shorten time to productivity; you encourage employees to stay. Explore Does better employee onboarding equal better retention?

Common automation challenges and how to overcome them

Automating onboarding may be more efficient, but it requires more technical and logistical thought than traditional, manual methods. Use the table below to troubleshoot common onboarding automation challenges.

How iCIMS transforms onboarding through automation

Now, it’s time to put what you’ve learned about employee onboarding automation into practice, starting with software that keeps the employee experience top of mind. iCIMS’ onboarding software connects with top enterprise HR systems, LMS, and payroll platforms like ADP and UKG.

It facilitates conditional workflows, personalizing experiences based on role, department, and location. And, its real-time reports and analytics provide immediate insights into onboarding effectiveness. As an extension of iCIMS’ ATS, onboarding bridges the candidate-to-employee experience, letting new hires use familiar systems as they prepare for their first day. Novant Health, for example, leveraged iCIMS’ automated onboarding software to improve engagement and even reduce hiring and onboarding time by 9%.

Ready to speed up onboarding and improve new hire satisfaction? Schedule a 15-minute iCIMS demo to see these tools in action.